Madhusudan_Das

52 Madhusudan Das:
was on friendly terms with the European officers of the station,
amongst whom he was noted for his hospitality and for his patronage
of local industries, in particular of the silver filigree work for which
Cuttack is famed...
My acquaintance with Mr. Das very nearly had a tragic ending
for me early in my Indian career. He kept in his stables good horses,
one of which had been the charger of a Falstaffian Colonel of the
Madras Regiment stationed at Cuttack in those days, and till 1905
an active cantonment. This horse had a reputation for bolting but could
be charmed by Mr. Das with pieces of sugar cane. I was rash enough
to ride him once on returning from an expedition to Khandagiri with
my Collector, Mr. George Stevenson, and party. The sugar cane trick
did not work as I mounted; the rest I knew was when I awoke 48
hours later to find the Civil Surgeon, Colonel Zorab, by my bedside—
the horse had impaled himself on the back shaft of a bullock cart
somewhere between Chandhar bungalow and the Katjuri river, and
I had been thrown on to the metalled road, but saved by a stout topee.
Mr. Das were deeply concerned over my accident and came to see
me daily till I recovered. He would never hear of any compensation
for the loss of his horse.
There were two causes that were always peculiarly dear to the
heart of Mr. Das. One was the welfare of the cultivating raiyat, the
other was the independence of Orissa. Although he was the retained
legal adviser of many Orissa Chiefs and Zamindars of the Mogubandi,
he never wavered in his support of the cultivator's rights. After I left
Orissa in 1894 in the Santal Parganas, I lost touch with Mr. Das,
till I was again brought into contact with the agrarian problems of
Orissa as Director of Land Records in 1907-12. Orissa tenancy law,
which up to then had been linked with the Bengal Tenancy Act, came
under extensive review during the revision settlement operations of
that period, and, after long deliberation in the Bengal Legislative
Council during the winter session of 1911-12 and again in the new
Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council of following year, the Orissa
Tenancy Act (B & O Act II of 1913) was passed, conferring on the
sub-province the boon of self-agrarian code. Mr. Das was a member
of both these Councils and took a prominent part in the proceedings.
When any question arose affecting the rights and interests of the
cultivators, he always championed their cause.